Cherry Pecan Oatmeal Cookies

I made these on Monday night.  I had already planned to bake that night but after the Easter candy the day before AND the leftover Easter candy brought to the after school meeting that day, I considered just not doing it.  I had several recipes that I was considering, but I just didn't think I could handle any more chocolate or icing - too similar to cream filling in Easter candy.  So, I decided to go ahead and bake, but make my recipe a bit more wholesome.  You know a little less sugar, at least one whole grain, some fruit, nuts... Ok, so there is still white flour in these a quite a bit of sugar and butter, but there are oats, cherries, and pecans, so they are at least better than what I had planned on, and they definitely tricked my palate into accepting dessert.  They are super easy and really good.  I got the base recipe from Annie's Eats who got it from Deborah's Culinary Confections.  My recipe is pretty close to the original.  And, it has the added bonus of being more palatable for those who are not raisin fans.




Cherry Pecan Oatmeal Cookies
yield:  3 1/2 dozen 2 inch cookies

Ingredients:1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup dried cherries
1 cup pecans

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cream together butter, sugar, and brown sugar in the large bowl of an electric mixer on medium until well combined.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing on low after each addition.  Add vanilla, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg and mix on low until well combined.  Add flour and mix on medium until well combined.  Mix in oats, cherries, and pecans on low until evenly distributed.  Drop by the tablespoon full (I use a cookie scoop that is just slightly larger than a tablespoon.) onto a parchment lined cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.  (I needed four cookie sheets to accommodate all of the cookies, but you could use less and reuse them.  Just make sure to let the cookie sheets cool down and add a new parchment sheet between batches.)  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until cookies are slightly brown.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet and then remove with a spatula to a wire rack to cool completely.

Source:  Adapted from Annie's Eats who got it from Deborah's Culinary Creations